Lavender being harvested is always considered somewhat of a sad sight at Wānaka Lavender Farm. We get it. It still looks like the flowers have more life in them and they're being cut down in their prime... but the time has come for them to offer more than just look pretty! They can be distilled for their beautiful calming oil and enjoyed in products and treats in the farm shop.
Getting the harvesting right with the intention of extracting essential oil needs plenty of experience and knowledge. What tools to use? When do you know to start harvesting? Is there a particular time of day to do it? Is the lavender harvested all at the same time? If you've ever asked any of these questions, or wondered how harvesting lavender for essential oil production is done at our farm, then this story is for you.
Please keep in mind that this our way of doing it at Wānaka Lavender Farm and other lavender farmers or gardeners may do things another way.
When and why?
Harvesting is a big job that takes weeks to complete. Mainly because different varieties of lavender bloom at different times in the season so we don't need to harvest every row on the farm all at once. A fact much appreciated by our guests who come to see purple rows throughout the New Zealand summer, and even into autumn.
Our gardeners plan harvesting for when 1/3 to 2/3 of the buds of the plant have died off, this allows us to yield plenty of pure oil that smells incredible. After all, harvesting too early or too late in the season can affect the scent, the quantity and the quality of the oil itself. This year we harvested a little later than usual to keep as much blooming lavender as possible in the fields for longer. We waited until 3/4 or more of the buds of the plant had passed and the vibrant colour almost gone. We won't know how this has affected our oil production until we inspect and test the oil properly when it's being bottled later in the year. It still had an amazing aroma when we were extracting it! It might just be that we got less of it - we'll have to wait and see.
As for the time of day to harvest, it is suggested that harvesting lavender in the morning will offer you the benefit of yielding more oil but we don't necessarily keep to this each time we harvest. Most often, we'll start cutting in the morning and continue through the day whilst also distilling the freshly cut flowers to aquire the essential oil.
The tools we use
Although we do hand harvest a lot of our rows with a sickle, most of the work is done (particularly for oil production) by using our handy harvesting machine:
This machine came about by taking the idea of a tea cutter harvester and developing it further by adding a frame and wheels, making it easy to repeatedly walk up and down rows of lavender bushes (or any other herb). It can be handled by one or two of our gardeners at a time and cuts the lavender at just the right height. The frame can be adjusted to ensure it works efficiently on different types of lavender of varying lengths.
The motorised power head cuts the crop and blows the cuttings into a collection bag. When the bag is full, our gardeners simply take it off the machine, give it a gentle shake, and air it out so that any bees caught up can fly away safely. They transfer the lavender from the catch bag to a distillery bag, giving any bees left another oppotunity to escape.
Although the machine harvests a lot at a time it can't quite get all of the flowers in one go, so going over the same rows twice or even three times is neccessary, changing the angle each time. Some large, established rows may even require a fourth snip!
This harvester also helps us prune the hedges to keep them neat and tidy and promote healthy new growth for the next season.
And that's how we harvest lavender for essential oil! Of course the process doesn't end there for us... After that, the bags are ready to be transported from the end of the rows to our onsite distillery.
On-site distilling
Harvesting and distilling are jobs that occur side by side. If you visit us in January, February, or early March whilst both of these tasks take place then you'll be lucky enough to smell the farm at its most potent!
The aroma that lingers in the air during harvesting is divine. Not to mention the strongest smells wafting from the distillery as lavender flowers are steamed and essential oil is extracted.
For more details on the distilling process please visit this Farm Story.
Our staff members are always happy to answer your questions should you have any while you meander the gardens or browse the farm shop!
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